Leave With Just Enough Love || Seeing Housefolk || To Fill Up My Hand

Chickbloom

Cheeto-Dusted and Sopping Wet
Dec 16, 2023
182
50
28

Magnetism. It had to be magnetism.

Somewhere within the whelp's thick head must've been a hunk of iron, attracted to the trimmed hedges and metal trees that lay beyond the border. Why else would the warrior find himself aching to run that way when out on patrol? Chickbloom tried to resist, and had gained strength since joining Skyclan, but screaming muscles could only resist being dragged away for so long.

The skittish Scottish Fold finally lost his footing when the magnet was closest, the reason within him fruitlessly trying to find purchase with roots and shrubs. The patrol he was part of had just stopped to lay fresh scent markers when amber eyes snapped to their surroundings. Chickbloom didn't have a stupendous sense of direction, but the boy knew this location well. There was a time when this place was like a window in his self-imposed padded cell, a place to see how others lived and imagine himself in their place. It was the spot on the border he’d always come to when he wanted conversation, even if it was just light chiding encouraging the then-kittypet to go home.

Chickbloom knew the way back to his housefolk from here. It was just a few minutes through the woods, and then he’d be at the walls of his former prison. The skittish Scottish Fold began to shake as the patrol made their way past, feeling the pull overwhelm him. “I’ll - uh - I’ll b-be right back. I need - I need to c-check something” The baby bird squeaked out, trying to sound casual as he peeled away from the group and began walking beyond the border.

It wasn’t long until a walk turned into a trot, and then a full sprint as the warrior felt his breath quicken. Horrid images began flashing in his mind, only serving to hasten his pace. His housefolk injured, trapped inside with no way to get help. Their den ablaze, the two perishing while their former pet was out gallivanting through the woods. Or the pair sitting safely at home, cuddling a new cat and confirming their abuse was Chickbloom’s fault.

Why did he care?

They’d neglected him. Isolated him. Trapped him. Why was the spineless whelp running back, worried for their safety? He didn’t want to return to that life, Chickbloom had grown too fond of Skyclan to even consider it, but still…the coward thought back to kithood, when the pair were the only parents he knew. They were good people back then. They were family back then. Perhaps they still were?

Trees and shrubs began to fade away, growing less dense as the forest faltered into manmade clearings. When the whelp’s fence came into view he veered left, scrabbling up the nearest tree to try and peer over it. Chickbloom was terrified now, all but certain of their demise. His breath was barely coming, stiff muscles struggling to reach a high enough branch. Yolk-splashed features steadied themselves as he finally sat down, wide eyes desperately searching what lay at the end of his gaze.

It took time; time enough for Chickbloom to feel tears begin to obstruct his vision, but he saw them. Two blurry shapes in the window rushing to get ready and go somewhere, a common sight when the whelp was still a pet. The boy only allowed himself to breathe when their monster’s growl reached folded ears, the metal construction tearing down the small thunderpath with two twolegs inside.

“They’re okay…” Chickbloom sighed with relief, feeling a racing heart finally begin to slow. They hadn’t changed either. Knowing the pair they wouldn’t be back until well after nightfall, but he’d already seen enough. The coward was vaguely aware of some of the patrol below him, and carefully descended to meet his peers. “S-Sorry about that-“ The warrior stammered, trying and failing to play off his little escapade. “It was - it was i-important to me.”
 
‧͙⁺˚*・🌤 everything seemed to be in order so far on patrol, nothing was out of the ordinary until they began to make their way along the perimeter that seperated skyclan and the twolegplace and it's in that moment when chickbloom suddenly begin to falter behind as everyone else continued ahead. there was hardly any time to give a response or reaction when the splotchy fledgling was suddenly barreling off into the distance with only a 'be right back' upon his tongue leaving behind the rest in this odd cloud of confusion as to what prompted such urgency to leave in the middle of a patrol. concern danced behind the dual-toned eyes of beechdapple who looked on towards the direction of twolegplace, chickbloom has always been a nervous little thing for as long as she can remember so it isn't too much a surprise that he up and bolted so suddenly but something had to be eating at him to cause this to happen.

"i'll go ahead and check on him if the rest of you want to continue patrol." she states lightly, knowing a few would probably accompany the senior warrior regardless before setting off to follow after chickbloom. beechdapple doesn't venture out into the twolegplace much, not since the formation of skyclan but the further she goes in tracking does she realize it doesn't go beyond the glaring wooden fences and instead leads to a nearby tree where she notices with a tilt back of her crown that chickbloom was hunched atop an overhanging branch staring out at what she assumes is his old residence.

when the anxious bundle finally has paws touching the ground, beechdapple is quick to look him over. a habit similiar to a concerned mother checking over her young and with no sight of anything wrong does the hefty warrior step back a bit with a frown beginning to knit her brows. "what were you thinkin', running off like that? not only did you up and abandon your patrol with nothing but a flimsy be right back but something could've happened in that short amount of time either to you or us!" her scolding sounded harsh coming from a raspy throat but it came from a place of worry. chickbloom mentions that it was important to him and it just slightly softens her gaze but it doesn't quite absolve the other from his abrupt stunt.

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  • ooc.
  • Untitled241_20240824153636.png
  • BEECHDAPPLE —— senior warrior of skyclan , mentoring none. plum x dapper . littermate to two npcs ✦ penned by cobatic
    cis female / she | her / ages every 6th
    single / bisexual polyamorous / open to puppy-crushes, crushes, romance.
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / underline & tag account when attacking

    —— battle notes

    speech, 'thoughts', all opinions are in character
    biography — msg on discord for plots — toyhouse
 

Hopping down from the tree, Chickbloom had expected an earful. Somewhere in the back of an anxious head he knew what he’d done was stupid, even during the heat of the moment, but worry for his housefolk had overpowered that. Now, he had to pay the price. The boy instinctively flinched as Beechedapple began her berating, and considered fleeing back up to the high branch for a brief moment before steadying himself.

“I’m s-sorry, I just - I was w-worried…” That was the explanation for everything Chickbloom did, wasn’t it? Amber eyes were downcast now. He knew Beechedapple was in the right. He knew what he did was stupid. But at the same time…that’s what love was, right? Doing stupid things for the people you care about?

What happened next was a small thing, but it would’ve been completely unfathomable back when the foremer kittypet first joined Skyclan: he argued back. “I haven’t s-seen my housefolk since I - since I ran away. I was just - I w-wanted to know they were alr-right.” It wasn’t an outright refutation of the other warrior’s anger, he was aware that he was in the wrong, but the streak of spit he called a spine seemed to be growing.

Chickbloom was sorry for what he’d done, but not why he’d done it. If the coward had put more thought into the stunt he would’ve done it at night; alone, so any danger would be his and his alone. Even the socially-inept cat knew that the idea could easily be argued as worse than what just happened, so the Scottish Fold bit his tongue. Instead he began to pad back towards the border, trying (and failing) to act casual.​
 
*✿❀○❀✿* Most of her clan didn't care about nor have any twolegs to care about. Bella had known their kind since she had opened her eyes. The apprentice wasn't naïve to think that all were kind, but not all cats were kind either. But both of hers did and do care about her just as much as she cared about them. Her own twoleg acted so much like a kit; sometimes Bella worried for her safety when she left the den.

Perhaps that's why she was elated when the patrol got closest to the twoleg place, just so that her eyes could wonder in the direction of her den and see if her wild no-fur kit had started a fire or something in their home. But it wasn't just her that was drawn to the area. Chickblooms all but flew in the direction that only Bella could assume was his den. Was something going wrong? Then Beechdapple went. Did she miss something?

Bella slipped away while the patrol was talking about someone's hunt and raced off after them. Their scents took her through unfamiliar twoleg dens; by the time she'd found them, her fur was a mess, and she was desperately out of breath. While Chickbloom and Beechdapple were standing by someone's home. Fortunately, there was no fire and no stench of blood in the air.

Bella wasn't expecting that shecat's scolding and winced. She approached them cautiously brows knitting together at the tom's apology. From her perspective, it was a completely reasonable worry. "And are they okay, dear? I think you just gave everyone a fright; I thought something terrible was happening." Bella soothes with a soft smile. "I would have done the same if I hadn't seen mine in a while, but next time let's make this a planned trip, hmm?"

 
Bi-colored ears perk up as the orange-splashed warrior quickly dips from the patrol group, such an action stirring confusion and concern between those present. Of course some cats had to stay behind and finish up despite the unusual circumstances, but Crowsight and Lionpaw were determined to follow after Beechdapple and make sure Eggshellbloom was alright.

The pair arrive during the tail-end of Beechdapple's scolding, coming to a halt near Bella. Lionpaw's blue gaze flicked back and forth between her and the worrisome warrior. Him fretting over something was not out of character, but it turned out that he had abandoned the patrol to check on his old twolegs. Lionpaw's nose scrunched slightly, a mixture of distaste and uncertainty spelling across his features. The senior warrior was right — with all of the dangers prowling about SkyClan's borders as of late, something could have happened to Eggshellbloom or the patrol. What the tom had done was foolish.

"If you..." The chocolate torbie point hesitates for a moment. He knows it is not his place to criticize someone who outranked him, so he decides to word his inquiry carefully, "If you care about them so much, then why did you run away?" Your loyalty is not to them anymore. Orangestar gave you a new name to prove it. Lionpaw doesn't understand. He has never found the idea of answering to humans appealing, despite the fact that both of his parents had once done so ( which he finds strange and almost unbelievable ). The apprentice's feelings on twolegs were mixed, knowing that many of his clanmates retreated to their dens at night and cared for them like kin, but he also was not one to call a cat soft-pawed for it. Lionpaw just knew that such a life would never be for him.

  • mentor tag @CROWSIGHT
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    an apprentice of skyclan, lionpaw is eight moons and is mentored by crowsight. he is the son of doeblaze and blazestar. an amalgamation of his parents, lionpaw exhibits splashes of ginger and chocolate tabby patterns against a thick, longhaired cream pelt. 
 

Just as buttery paws attempted to skirt around the situation, trying to carry the tomcat towards the border and away from twoleg temptation, Chickbloom was intercepted by yet more interested parties. He began to fidget in his fur, realizing that this wasn’t going to just blow over in a few minutes’ time. The patrol wanted answers, and they were entitled to them. “Why didn’t I do this alone?”

Amber eyes soften along with his self-criticism as Bella steps forward. He viewed the she-cat in the same light as Johnnyflame: what could have been. Embers of jealousy glowed when she was around, life breathed into them by the knowledge that some twolegs had time for love at every hour, and he’d just drawn a short straw. The kindling never exploded into a full-blown flame of resentment, though, and in some ways her presence was appreciated. The reminder of the love she was shown made Chickbloom think of childhood, and better days with his housefolk.

her words were the same as those memories; soft and understanding.
“Y-Yeah, they’re fine…” he mumbled, the she-cat’s disarming voice making him feel rather foolish for all the panic, especially since no tragedy had befallen his former owners. “I t-thought something t-terrible was happening, t-too, I guess…j-just a dumb worry…” Although the morbid curiosity at the fate of his housefolk was satisfied, Chickbloom was almost certain it would come creeping back eventually. Every new day brought the chance of untimely death, after all. That was why a sigh of relief left him at her suggestion. “Y-Yeah, that s-sounds nice. I’ll - I’ll b-be sure to ask next time.”

If Bella was concerned with how the whelp was doing, then Lionpaw was focused on why he’d done it. Both were valid questions, but one was much easier to answer than the other. Chickbloom had an out. He could’ve played rank, taking umbrage with an apprentice asking after a warrior’s actions, but the idea never even crossed the coward’s mind. To the warrior every rank below was a peer, while every rank above might as well be Orangestar herself.

“They’re - I - I don’t know…” An unsatisfying answer. The apprentice didn’t know it, but his question cut Chickbloom to the core. The whelp turned around for a moment, worried that tears would fall and embarrass him even more. Thankfully, dinner-plate eyes remained dry. “I - they weren’t a-always bad. They r-raised me. I - y’know - I n-never knew my real mom or dad, and my - my first memories were of my housefolk. I g-guess you could - could say-“ The words remained unspoken. Instead Chickbloom turned back around, padding forwards and trying to answer the question with a question.

“W-What if - Imagine Crowsight - no, i-imagine Doeblaze. What if one - one day, o-out of the blue, she decides to leave and…and g-go to Thunderclan.” The warrior winced, feeling bad about painting the kind she-cat as a traitor, even for a hypothetical. “You - you don’t know w-what’s gotten into her. She won’t explain herself. y-you can’t go with her, you’re loyal to Skyclan. She leaves, be-betraying orangestar and - and everyone. C-Can you say that you wouldn’t still - y’know - care about her? Can you - you say that every time you patrol the thu-hunderclan border you w-wouldn’t…w-wouldn’t want to run t-to their camp and see how she’s doing?”

Chickbloom had gotten animated during his little speech, growing much louder and more intense than was usual for him. Amber eyes closed as the coward sighed, sitting down. “that’s…that’s sort of what it’s like, I guess…”
 
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"Caring.. Of course we'd care about them, but they would have made their choice." Fireflyglow speaks up from behind the patrol, dropping his pile of herbs onto the ground as blind blue eyes stare owlishly towards Eggshellbloom. He walks over, gently pressing his nose to Egg's shoulder to comfort him. "When my siblings and I.. chose which clan we'd go to, I chose SkyClan to be with my father. Howlfire, too. Our loyalties.. They were to SkyClan the moment we chose that. Of course, I miss ThunderClan and the rest of my family, but Morningpaw.. She died, and the Code was made in response to that." He purrs softly, leaning down to touch his nose to Lionpaw's ear in reassurance.

"Missing your home is okay. But I would avoid wandering back to your housefolk. You've made your choice, it would be best to stick with it and watch your old housefolk from afar. Okay?" He warns the eggyolk tom with a gentle smile. He then walks back to his pile of herbs, lifting them up tenderly, as if lifting a kit in his jaws. "Have you seen what you needed to see? If so, you have a patrol to continue. I'll come along, best to be with a crowd of cats than by myself."
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